Quiz: What American accent do you have?

[wackymother Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wackymother]

Bubbler is a trademarked name that refers to a drinking fountain.

History of device
The original Bubbler shot water one inch straight into the air, creating a bubbling texture, and the excess water ran back down over the sides of the nozzle. It was years before the bubbler adapted the arc projection, which allowed the drinker to partake more easily.

OH! I do call the kind where the water comes up from the middle a bubbler. But you hardly ever see that kind in NY and NJ. You mostly see the ones where you press a button and the water comes way up in an arc from a faucet at the side. I haven't seen the bubbler kind in years and years. Not a working one, anyway. Do they still have that kind in the Midwest?

[BoardGirl Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BoardGirl]

Well, generally it got me right with "midland" but then it specifies SOUTHERN Indiana and I absolutely do not speak that way. There is a difference in how the southern portion of the state speaks and I'm northern. Ohio seems to speak the same as I do, and with the exception of Chicago, Illinois also speaks as we do. Kentucky isn't the same - lump the southern IN folks in with them. Michigan, I have no idea.

But, we have never said soda pop - that says Minnesota to me, and they speak differently up there than we do, so now I'm wondering how they broke down these regions?? Does MN go in with Canada??

This is fun!

I spent a few formative years in New Jersey and apparently had quite a jersey accent for a 4 yo. It's long gone...

[mshatty Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close mshatty]

The fun part about this survey, is that no one believes that they have an accent. The true test of this is to visit another part of the country and speak as you normally do.

Most of us would have people telling us where we're from.

I remember when my son was young and in Boy Scouts. We went winter camping at an East Texas camp. Our boys kept making comments about the rural boys' accent. I just laughed and told them that they sounded exactly the same. There are regional differences that we hear. We just don't hear ourselves.

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

I notice that no one has yet picked up on what a rubber binder is.

[tennisWalt Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tennisWalt]

It Is The Same Here.

OH! I do call the kind where the water comes up from the middle a bubbler. But you hardly ever see that kind in NY and NJ. You mostly see the ones where you press a button and the water comes way up in an arc from a faucet at the side. I haven't seen the bubbler kind in years and years. Not a working one, anyway. Do they still have that kind in the Midwest?

I really can not recall seeing a true Bubbler for years in Milwaukee. Most have the arc from a faucet at the side. But we still call them a Bubbler.


Walt

[wackymother Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wackymother]

I notice that no one has yet picked up on what a rubber binder is.

Isn't it what we East Coast sophisticates would call a rubber band?

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

It's true, we do kind of have our own language.....We certainly speak faster than most. And, often times, we use our hands. (Or, maybe that's just because I'm Italian) We are impatient with language, the way we are with most things. I can remember wanting to finish the sentences for some people, when I was down south.

About 15 or 20 years I took some classes in linguistics and communications to help me with my communications with co-workers. I picked up some fascinating stuff on regional and cultural differences in speaking protocols.

One of the differences that causes much communication breakdown is how the signal is passed regarding when it is appropriate for someone else to start talking.

In the midwest, where I grew up, and throughout the south, the signal is an elongated pause after the speaker completes a sentence. Essentially, the speaker is allowed a chance to catch a breath and continue. If the speaker doesn't continue, then it's appropriate for another person to speak.

When I went to college, I lived in dorms that were about 50% populated by Jewish kids from the northeast. I soon learned my personal communication style was not effective. I learned that the accepted protocol when talking with my new acquaintances from the NE was to start talking on top of the other person as they were finishing their sentence. If the other person was ready to stop talking, they would finish their sentence and stop. If they weren't ready to stop, they would raise their pitch and volume, which was the signal that it wasn't time yet for me to butt in.

We've probably all had experiences in meetings when people have had an impression that someone in the meeting isn't contributing or sharing their thoughts. I have learned that often the person doesn't believe they are being given an opportunity to speak, and that often results from them being accustomed to wait for pauses that aren't being provided by the other participants. In discussions with the people after the meetings I have confirmed that is most often the case.

***

At one time I was involved in a week-long American Management Association course that focused on team-building. We were divided into teams of about 8 people, and about half of the people in my team were getting frustrated with two other people in the group that they felt weren't participating. The people in question were a black woman from Alabama and a Scandinavian woman from central Wisconsin. (Both of those women became very good friends in contacts outside our group setting.) Most of the rest of the group was from the eastern seaboard, varying from D.C to Massachusetts. I was the token westerner.

I was dead sure that the situation was simply a communications style difference. At one point to illustrate I engaged Dick, who had grown up on the lower East Side, in a conversation in which I dragged out the tricks I had learned in my college days. Dick and I chatted for several minutes in the style I described.

I then turned to Paula, the woman from Wisconsin, and told her, "I bet you thought I was pretty rude talking right on top of Dick, didn't you?"

Paula got real animated and said, "Yes!! I was just about ready to scream at you." I turned to Dick and said, "What did you think?"

Dick said, "I have no idea what the two of you are talking about."

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

How would you pronounce them differently? I rhyme both of them with Woot, shoot, etc.

When you root for a team, root is pronounced with an ooooooo sound, such as most people use with toot.

A the root of a tree is pronounced with a sound closer to the u sound in "rut".

I pronounce them both with the "oo" sound, but my siblings don't.

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

Isn't it what we East Coast sophisticates would call a rubber band?

Yep. That term is peculiar to southern Minnesota and a few parts of Wisconsin close to the Twin Cities.

[bslag Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bslag]

Souther Accent!

HUH??!! - It said I have a southern accent. Have lived in Michigan my whole life. Both my parents are from Texas, but have lived in Michigan many many years. Maybe over the years some of there accents rubbed off off on me!! I thought I'd rate as "yankee" as you can get!

[Kay H Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Kay H]

It correctly identified me as Northeast.


There really is a distinct difference that we New Yorkers/North Jerseyites probably notice easily. People from Southern Jersey tend to have the Philly accent, right, Kay H?

It said I'm as Philly as cheesesteak.

Funny though, both of my parents were from Philly and I say many things more Philly than my former classmates and 2 of my grandkids have always lived in Philly and they say some South Jersey style words like their parents use. EG craft, glass, class.. they pronounce a as in at, bat cat. I pronounce the a in those words as in can"t.

I call water "warter" and everyone knows where I'm from when they hear warter. Kay H

[ArtsieAng Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close ArtsieAng]

T. R. Oglodyte

I learned that the accepted protocol when talking with my new acquaintances from the NE was to start talking on top of the other person as they were finishing their sentence.

That certainly would explain my grandmother's house. Any given Sunday, when I was a kid, there would be a house full of children, and grand children, all talking on top of one another. You had to pay close attention to what everyone was saying, or you would be lost.

[Kay H Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Kay H]

I lived in Kansa for 2 yrs and had difficulty.

They call a paper bag a sack, a fountain pen a pin, a porch a stoop and a soda (carbonated drink) pop. A soda to them is an ice cream soda to me as I found out when I ordered a soda and they asked me what kind of ice cream I wanted. There were a few more but I can't remember them.

A childhood neighbor from Johnstown Pa used to call boots or galoshes artics and she used to red up the room (tidy up) and warsh her clothes and have a bite to eat (meal).

[Tinkerbell Member Find all posts View Profile Close Tinkerbell]

I live in southern Minnesota (half-way between the Twin Cities and Iowa) and have never heard of a bubbler or a rubber binder.

I know what you mean about the word root. Normally it would rhyme with "toot", but here it rhymes with "put" or "soot" or "foot".

Roof also has a similar vowel sound to foot.

[lawren2 Malibu Beach Barbie & A Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close lawren2]

I lived in Kansa for 2 yrs and had difficulty.

a porch a stoop .

Hey we have stoops here in NYCity or at least in the borough of Queens.

I like my cough-fee with half-half < a like in have >.

All my roots, be they plants or cheers, sound the same

I like all the regional names for heroes , like hoagies, grinders, subs, etc.